You are receiving this letter because you are one of my Spartans - my top-producing brokers and investor clients - of whom I am allowed to have 300. Removal instructions are below. Today we'll talk about exit fees. We also have lots of cute, clean jokes, some funny pics, and a super interesting video.

Joke Du Jour

After ten years, the wife starts to think their child looks a little odd, so she decides to do a DNA test. She finds out that the kid is actually from completely different parents. Wife: “Honey, I have something very serious to tell you.” Husband: “What's up?” Wife: “According to DNA test results, this is not our kid.” Husband: “Well, don't you remember? When we were leaving the hospital, you saw the baby had pooped his diaper. Then you said, ‘Please go change the baby, I'll wait for you here.’ So I went inside, got a clean one, and left the messy one there.”

Do you need a lender who will also look at the borrower's global income - income from salaries, other investments, etc.? Do you need a lender who will allow the seller to carry back a second mortgage? Does your client have a balloon payment coming due on his commercial property? Has your bank offered him a discounted pay-off? Does your borrower have less-than-stellar credit? Is your client's company losing money? Is your borrower a foreign national? Do you need a non-recourse loan? Do you need a commercial loan with no prepayment penalty? Is your client's commercial property partially vacant? Do all of your commercial leases run out in the next 18 months? Do you need a lender who will allow a negative cash flow? Do you need a loan against a portfolio of rental houses?

And don't forget, we will quickly and happily issue you a written Loan Approval Letter - at no charge - that you can use as a fallback and to lure cheaper lenders. After all, everyone wants to lend to you if you already have a commitment. Here is our latest rate sheet.

"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." -- Unknown

What is an Exit Fee?

An exit fee is like a prepayment penalty, except the fee is owed when the loan pays off, regardless of whether the loan is paid off early, exactly on time, or late.

I was reading a tombstone this week issued by George Smith Partners describing a $7.4MM bridge loan that they had recently closed. What was interesting about this loan was that they had structured the deal with an increasing exit fee. I had never heard of an increasing exit fee before.

"The loan is structured with an increasing exit fee in lieu of an upfront lender origination fee to minimize upfront costs and incentivize the Borrower to execute the business plan in a timely manner... After an initial 12 month spread maintenance period, the exit fee is 1.33% for months 13 through 24, increasing to 1.66% for months 25 through 30 and 2.00% for months 31 through 36."

Free Copy of The Blackburne List

The Blackburne List is a list of over 2,500 commercial lenders located nationwide. We just spent almost $30,000 and three months updating this list.

We will trade you one of our three Regional Lists for the contact information of just one banker making commercial real estate loans. If you refer us three bankers, you will own the list for all three regions. Together you will own the entire Blackburne List.

There is another way that you can access The Blackburne List. Our newest portal, CommercialMortgage.com, is an online way to search the entire Blackburne List for the 30 lenders most suitable to make your loan. CommercialMortgage.com ("CMDC") is also 100% free!

Did you buy a copy of the full list last year? Please write to Tom Blackburne. For $39.95 more, we'll let you buy the brand new version of The Blackburne List.

Chicago Joke

"I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"-- Richard Jeni

The loan servicing portfolio for Blackburne & Sons just broke $50 million this quarter. Since our average loan servicing fee is two percent annually, that means we earn $1 million per year for servicing just 250 loans. How would you like to walk in the door on the first of each month knowing that you will earn at least $83,000? Find your own private mortgage investors.

Baseball Joke

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." -- Dave Barry

"My mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'" -- Paula Poundstone

Need a Commercial Loan Right Now?

If you need a non-prime or subprime commercial mortgage loan right now, simply complete this super-easy mini-app to me here at Blackburne & Sons.

If you need a bank-quality commercial loan right now from a life company, a commercial bank, or a conduit, you should enter your deal into C-Loans.com or our latest commercial loan portal, Commercial Mortgage.com.

Blackburne & Sons has a terrific apartment loan program for "A" quality deals. Our fixed rate is adjusted according to the desirability of the property and the area, but it starts at 3.87% and 1 point for a 30-year fully-amortized loan.For more details, please call Tom Blackburne at (574) 210-6686.

Sport Joke

Marriage: The only sport in which the trapped animal has to buy the license.

Too Busy to Broker Commercial Loans to Us? Why Not Just Refer Them Instead? We Make It Easy!

My 7-month-old golden retriever puppy named Bernie is a handful. He is very much the rough and tumble outdoorsy dog that he was bred to be. And to no one's surprise, he went head first into a swamp for a swim on our last hiking excursion two weeks ago. I didn't think anything of it until the next morning when one of his eyes became swollen, pink, and seeping ooze overnight. Two days later, Bernie had become completely blind in both eyes! In panic mode, we rushed him to a 24 hour vet clinic. After paying oodles of money on blood work, urine analysis, lung fluid analysis, and seeing an ophthalmologist, they were not able to determine what caused his blindness. The next day Bernie was given a series of anti-fungal, anti-viral, and steroid medications to go home with, based on the assumption that this was either a tick-borne illness or fungal/bacterial from the swamp. It just didn't make sense for this to be hereditary or cancerous, given his age. Two weeks later, we still aren't exactly sure what caused the sudden blindness, but I am so thankful to say Bernie has regained much of his eyesight back! The medication is working. :)

I say all that to say this: This past winter here in the Midwest was incredibly mild, which has caused a spike in numerous forest dwelling, infectious critters and contagions such as ticks (Lyme disease is at an all time high), mosquitoes, poison ivy, and stagnant water-based bacteria and fungi, of course. Be extra careful this summer and fall when venturing into the woods, and remember to keep your pups out of the swamps!

Don't Forget About C-Loans.com

We have a whole new crop of hungry commercial lenders on C-Loans, so if you have a commercial loan you're trying to place, it takes just four minutes to submit your deal to 750 commercial lenders. And remember, C-Loans.com is free!

Final Funny (R)

A girl from New York and a girl from the west coast were seated side by side on an airplane. The girl from New York, being friendly and all said, "So, where ya from?" The west coast girl said, "From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence." The girl from New York sat quietly for a few moments and then replied: "So, where ya from.... (w)itch?"

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Our Training Course Includes Over 60 Minutes on Fee Collection. No One Has Collected From More Lying, Deadbeat Borrowers Than George. You Can Order the Fee Agreement and Collection Training Separately for $199.